Gratitude Meditation
"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present -- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure -- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth."
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Take a moment to sit quietly and allow your breath to smooth into an easy rhythm. Reflect on your secret garden of blessings and how you may tend it. Each one of us has been bestowed with life and, therefore, an undeniable connection with the eternal from which life emerges. Within the struggle and stress of a modern life there also extists many blessings. You may welcome greater abundance and joy into your life by honoring the gifts you have received with a deep sense of gratitude.
The Healing Energy of Giving Thanks
by Jo delAmor
In addition to loving care of the body through eating healthfully, exercising regularly, sleeping well and getting plenty of pure water, we affect our physical health with our thoughts and attitudes. Every one of us knows a person who has somehow lived a long, healthy life, defying all the “health rules” with a shrug and a laugh. The somewhat elusive balance of healthy living has many facets and factors and yet at its core is quite simple.
More and more through modern scientific discoveries and spiritual experiences, alike, we are finding that the game is all about energy. The way that energy moves and magnetizes, where it is blocked and how it is fostered are essential aspects of the health of any system. In a healthy thriving system, the energy moves unrestricted within a natural ebb and flow cycle.
Our bodies receive and release air that is then received and released by the plant life around us. Our cells receive and release nutrients and wastes that are then received and released by our bodies. If there were a restriction or block in either of these cases it is easy to see that the health of the system would suffer.
Along with these physical systems, we also have many energetic systems at play. We are each being fed and supported by the environment in which we live. Life energy (chi) flows into us from the moment we are born until the moment we die. We can use this energy in a constantly depleting manner or we can foster its strength by participating with it in a healthy system of give and take.
Giving thanks and experiencing appreciation for our lives is one of the most effective ways we can do this. Life energy flows in and gratitude flows out in a breathing interdependent relationship with the natural world. It is an energetic “priming of the pump” or “opening of the channel”. The more energy we give to this system, the more we receive in the form of blessings, opportunities, simple pleasures and a deep sense of aliveness.
When we resist our experience with disappointment and dissatisfaction, we restrict this energy flow significantly. These feelings make it difficult for the supportive energy of life to flow in. Through a lifetime of dissatisfaction it is possible to reduce that flow of life force to a trickle. The more we invest in this mental/emotional state, the more justification we will find for these feelings because, in fact, we are suffering from the loss of the vital energy of life moving through us. Endeavors will be more difficult, relationships will disappoint and the state of the world will overwhelm us.
When the movement of life’s energy is restricted, we will experience it on many levels. Fear, anxiety, stress, physical pain, disease, weakness, and sluggishness are all symptoms of this restriction.
As referenced in the meditation above, it is our choice in every moment whether we support the flow of life energy or restrict it. Simple acts and feelings of gratitude can open this channel and begin a profound healing process.
There are countless ways to experience and express gratitude in our lives. Paying attention to your breath and feeling it move in and out. Noticing beauty in your environment, companions or yourself. Offering support or kindness to another human, animal or plant. Sharing food and laughter with loved ones. Admiring the grandness of the natural world. Accepting life and its circumstances just as they are.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie
Enjoy this time of Thanksgiving. May the lessons and experiences of this time travel with you throughout the year. Peace.